Cork City Council will pedestrianize 17 city streets with permanent closure of Marina to cars

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A major pedestrianization plan has been unveiled in Cork City to extend or make permanent some of the measures introduced during the pandemic.

Cork City Council has announced its intention to close 17 streets to traffic, some permanently and others for up to 17 hours a day, before the end of the year which, if approved, will see:

  • La Marina, which had its temporary pedestrianization extended in August until December 31, close to traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
  • an extension of the Oliver Plunkett St pedestrianization, first introduced from 11 am to 5 pm in 2005, from 11 am to 2 am, and a closure of its side streets to traffic at the same hours;
  • and Princes St to the south, where a cookout initiative has made headlines around the world, near traffic from 9:30 am to 2 am, seven days a week;

Food businesses here, who want to install a roof over the street, are encouraged to apply to the city council for winter protection grants of up to € 2,000 before September 28 to protect dining rooms from the elements.

New pedestrianization measures are being advanced under article 38 of the 1994 Road Traffic Act, which provides for eight weeks of public consultation, after which a report will be prepared for city councilors before the end of the year.

Princes St to the south, where merchants are in talks with City Hall to erect a roof over the street to make their street eating space winterproof, closing to traffic from 9:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. Image: Clare Keogh
Princes St to the south, where merchants are in talks with City Hall to erect a roof over the street to make their street eating space winterproof, closing to traffic from 9:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. Image: Clare Keogh

Green Party Director Dan Boyle welcomed the proposals, which include:

  • there is no 24/7 vehicular traffic on Marina, St Peter and Paul’s Place and part of Paul St, as well as on Emmett Place, Little Ann St and Little Cross St;
  • no vehicular traffic from 11am to 2am on Tuckey St, Oliver Plunkett St, Grafton St, South Marlboro St, South Cook St, Robert St, Morgan St, Caroline St, Smith St from your junction with Phoenix St to your junction with Oliver Plunkett St;
  • and traffic-free between 9.3 a.m. and 2 a.m. seven days a week on South Princes St, Pembroke St, Phoenix Street from its intersection with Pembroke Street to its intersection with Crane Lane and Beasley St.

Boyle said they show how the city has “gone on a journey” since one of its initial responses to the pandemic was to reopen Oliver Plunkett St for traffic in what the city said was an effort to support merchants in the market. English.

“But the response of merchants to the recent pedestrianization measures shows that there has been a huge change in mindset,” he said.

“For city centers to be viable, they have to be comfortable places to walk. When that happens, they are better places to live and do business.”

The council’s chief operating officer, David Joyce, said that when the measures were implemented, officials had promised to evaluate them.

“That has been done and this is the next step in the journey,” he said.

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